49ers’ Lynch on reported ‘friction’ with Shanahan: ‘It’s nonsense’

San Francisco 49ers General Manager John Lynch, left, and Head Coach Kyle Shanahan speak to the media on the first day of the team's training camp, Wednesday, July 25, 2018 in Santa Clara, Calif.

Photo: D. Ross Cameron / Special to The Chronicle

Three days after 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan dismissed a report of “friction” between he and John Lynch as “complete bull---", the general manager used two family friendly words to convey the same sentiment.

“It’s nonsense,” Lynch said Friday during an appearance on 95.7 The Game.

The rebuttals from the team’s power duo came in response to a Bleacher Report article. The report cited anonymous “sources in the team’s scouting and coaching staff,” who claimed the Lynch-Shanahan relationship was souring two years after they signed joint six-year contracts.

The 49ers have a 10-22 record during their tenure.

“The notion that we’re not working together, it couldn’t be further from the truth,” Lynch said. “We have a tremendous working relationship. We’re great friends off the field. There’s a lot of trust. We came in this together and we came in knowing that there would be some tough times and it wasn’t going to be easy, but it was going to be worth it.

“So I can tell Niners fans that we’re strong as ever. There’s a lot of trust and faith. I feel so great for this organization that they’ve got Kyle Shanahan. Tremendous leader. Tremendous mind. Our players love him. I love him. We’ve got each other’s back.”

The reported cited a primary source of conflict: Shanahan didn’t trust Lynch’s evaluation skills and resented having to pull away from working on his offensive scheme and developing players to become more involved in player evaluation.

However, the hands-on Shanahan has enjoyed studying free agents and draft prospects during the offseason throughout his tenure. This year, his pre-draft routine remained unchanged. He didn’t accompany Lynch and other front-office executives to college pro days, with the exception of a trip to Stanford.

Lynch said he’s collaborated with Shanahan throughout their partnership to identify players they want. He said the similar way they view players is a primary reason they decided to join forces in 2017. Shanahan handpicked Lynch to be his GM.

“Most of the time we’re seeing the same thing,” Lynch said. “But I can tell you by the time we’ve brought a player in here, we’re both on board. It’s really been an awesome experience.

“We understand full well we’re going into year three. This is a production-based business and we’ve got to start winning football games. We feel really good about where our team is in terms of being set up to do that.”

Eric Branch has worked at the San Francisco Chronicle since 2011 as the 49ers beat writer. Before that, he covered the 49ers for the Santa Rosa Press Democrat in 2010. Since he began his career in journalism in 1997 in Logansport, Ind., he’s covered events ranging from archery tournaments to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.